Chief defends officer's takedown of drunken woman

ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) — A Texas police chief is denying that one of his officers used excessive force when he tackled a drunken woman in a parking lot.

Viviana Keith was charged with driving while intoxicated with a child younger than 15 and interfering with public duties after the Tuesday afternoon incident in Round Rock, an Austin suburb. Video recorded by an unidentified person raised questions about whether Officer Ben Johnson used excessive force when he threw Keith to the ground, causing her to hit her head on the pavement and lose consciousness.

Chief Allen Banks told KVUE-TV (http://bit.ly/1bz0tnn ) of Austin that Keith "was very combative, very argumentative, and also very intoxicated." He said dash cam video shows Johnson was professional and "did what he was supposed to do in a situation like that."